Murder at The U: The Teammate

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20/20 48 min 8 speakers 4 chapters transcribed
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Who is the chilling suspect in Bryan's murder?

Debra Roberts 0:00
This is Debra Roberts here with another episode of Murder at the U from our friends at ESPN and 30 for 30 podcasts. This is the last episode of Murder at the U we'll be sharing for now, so if you want to listen to the rest of the series and learn what happens to Rashawn Jones, follow 30 for 30 podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. Now, here's the fourth episode of Murder at the U. previously on Murder at the U. Everybody's a suspect when somebody dies.
George Timmons 0:39
It was Brian and the girl, man. I used to ask him, where are you getting all this fucking money from? Then he'd be like, oh, I got to call my guy. He never said the name. But I just remember him, like, if you want it, man, come see me then.
Paula Levine 0:52
From the very beginning of our reporting, we knew the Pata family had a particular suspect in mind for who killed Brian.
Che Scott 0:59
Yeah, we know who did it. We know who's responsible for it.
Paula Levine 1:03
This came in our first conversation with Edric Pata in 2017.
Che Scott 1:07
Brian, our brother, was not killed from somebody from outside. He was killed from University of Miami. Miami-Dade doesn't want to put it out there, but...
Paula Levine 1:17
In our investigation, multiple suspects emerged from different scenarios. There was a nightclub fight with suspected gang members, Brian's alleged connection to the Zopan leader, Ali Adam, and potentially his girlfriend's twin brother. But this theory, that a teammate killed Brian, it had our attention from the beginning. At first, Brian's brothers, Edrick and Edwin, didn't want to implicate this teammate by name. But over time, they eventually did share a name with producer Dan Arruda. Did he mention having problems with anybody on the team? Yeah.
George Timmons 1:54
His only guy was Rashawn Jones.
Paula Levine 1:57
The Pata family was convinced that Brian was killed by his teammate, Rashawn Jones. Edrick told us his suspicion started after a conversation with a former Hurricanes player.
George Timmons 2:08
Man, y'all need to look at the goddamn school. He said, there's some grimy, he said, he used these words, there's some grimy niggas out there. I know somebody in the goddamn school know who killed Brian. Them cats know. Them players know. So when he says this to you, you think what? Like, it can't be true. Miami. It's Miami, man. It is brotherly love. It's, it's my, it's to you. It's Miami. They wouldn't, you know, who would do that?
Paula Levine 2:36
When was the first time you remember someone saying to you, or you guys putting together that Rashawn was the one that pulled the trigger?
George Timmons 2:42
We started sitting down with the teammate and then we started putting the puzzle together. Who did Brian had altercation with? Brian had a fight with this guy. And when we heard different things, people started talking a little bit about Rashawn. People kept saying his name kept coming up.
Paula Levine 2:57
This is from former teammates.
George Timmons 2:58
Yeah, former teammates, UF students. So people just started to talk.
Paula Levine 3:03
But could a teammate really have killed Brian in cold blood? As we dug deeper, we concluded that only one of two things could be true. Either Rashawn Jones killed Brian Pata or someone else killed Brian and Rashawn fell victim to a very unfortunate set of circumstances. I'm Paula Levine.

What led to the Pata family's suspicion of Rashawn Jones?

Paula Levine 3:26
From 30 for 30 Podcasts, this is Murder at the U. Episode 4, The Teammate.
Paula Levine 3:41
After the Padas identified Rashawn Jones by name in 2018, our reporting team tried to learn everything we could about him. Rashawn was in his junior year when Brian Patta was murdered. The police questioned him, but he didn't hear from them after 2007. Rashawn was still on the team in the spring, but then, after failing another drug test, he left. He transferred to a college in North Carolina, and he ended up playing arena football in Texas. But after Texas, Rashawn moved back home to Florida. In 2018, he married his high school girlfriend, Ashenda. By that time, he had five children. And this is where our timelines converge. It had been nearly 12 years since Brian's murder. Rashawn and the people in his orbit were going about their lives, most likely not thinking about Brian Pata, until we began calling them up and asking questions.

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